Magic Butterfly

Background

Welsh National Opera wanted to take two of the most beloved operas in history and use cutting edge technology to reinvigorate them for a new generation of viewers and fans. The goal was to present both Puccini's Madam Butterfly and Mozart’s The Magic Flute in a way that would allow for audience participation and interaction, while preserving the elements that have made both operas enduringly popular.

Idea

Magic Butterfly (the combined experience of The Magic Flute and Madam Butterfly in VR) was a collaboration between Welsh National Opera and REWIND. The interactive immersive virtual reality experience combines motion capture, animation, music and technology to create a new artistic expression of classical opera, putting audiences at the heart of the experience. To create realistic movement within Madam Butterfly, a software package called Houdini was used by REWIND developers. Traditionally used for film, adverts etc to create super-real effects, Houdini had never been used in a real-time mobile experience before. A great deal of time was spent ensuring that the correct timing was employed to mimic the movement of the actress. For Magic Flute, REWIND delivered a second fully interactive VR experience, utilising Google Daydream’s controller to attract and interact with animals within the environment. Users were required to successfully trace the shapes that appeared in front of them, to tame the approaching animals.

Results

The two experiences launched in Cardiff in July 2017, touring other locations in Wales and England afterwards. Magic Butterfly was housed inside a shipping container specially designed by Welsh designer Gwyn Eiddor. Over 1800 people took part within the first 16 days of the experience, with WNO receiving extremely positive feedback from attendees. It has been extremely successful in de-mystifying opera, and inspiring young people to attend future operas.